Caged Soul
by MistoryStar
Summary: After being falsely accursed of murdering his father, Ichigo is sent to an insane asylum. After 6 years in what he considers Hell on Earth, things go from bad to worse as Ichigo's schizophrenia worsens and demons decide to use him and many other as their toys. (MA: Because of language(Blame the site's content guidelines.))
1. How It Came to Be

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH, KUBO TITE DOES.**

* * *

I sit on my bed, banging my head lightly against the wall. I, as per usual, am bored out of my frigging mind. I blame this stupid place with it's stupid rules. Apparently just about anything I could use to entertain myself can also be used as a weapon of sorts. "I'm so fucking bored!" I yell into the empty room, my voice bouncing off the walls.

Oh yeah, in case you didn't know, I'm in the Karakura Asylum. I was put here when I was 18 and I just turned 24 recently, so I've been here for about 6 years.

I'm here for two reasons. According to most doctors, I don't see _ghosts_, I see _hallucinations_, or how the doctors here put it, _friends._ What a bunch of bull. The second thing was the worst case scenario of a _HUGE_ misunderstanding. Everyone thinks I killed my dad, but I assure you that I'd _never_ do such a thing.

What killed my dad wasn't even human, it was a demon. But even among the supernatural, they think they're only a myth. Idiots! If they they saw what I saw, they'd know how real they really are...

* * *

I stared in horror at the scene before me. Dad was laying on the ground in a pool of his own blood with something that looked _exactly_ like me standing over him. It was laughing as dad's blood dripped off his hands.I charged at him, screaming at the top of my lungs, but he vanished right before I made contact with him. I ended up slipping in dad's blood, causing me to fall. My clothes started to soak up the crimson liquid.

I stared at dad for several moments, trying to make myself believe that it was all a dream, but it was obvious that it wasn't. I burst into tears, clutching onto his damp shirt, earning myself more blood on my clothes. I couldn't have stopped the powerful sobs that caused my entire body to violently shake if I tried.

Several men tried to pull me away from dad's corpse and I tried to pull away from them, screaming an endless stream of profanities as they dragged and shoved me into a police car. I started banging my fists against the tinted window as I continued to scream at them.

The demonic being that killed my father suddenly appeared in front of the window, smiling evilly at me. I stopped moving, not even daring to breathe. It's body then started to stretch and bend in an unnatural way as it reverted to it's true form. My eyes widened in horror. It simply gave me yet another evil grin before vanishing. I fainted mere seconds later.

After the chaos the demon caused, I was put on a trial for murder and examined by several doctors. I was diagnosed with schizophrenia and chronic explosive intermittent disorder. The judge ad jury didn't once consider prison, instead they sent me straight to the loonie bin.

My first day I was given a locked room on the third floor. A bastard by the name of Katamura told me that if I behaved enough, he might consider letting me roam. I attacked him before he could even get out of the room. I was immediately transferred to an isolation room on the forth floor. After several days there, I smashed the window, which earned me a windowless room on fifth.

* * *

Well, I'm done explaining myself. I think I'll return to what I was originally doing: trying to find some way to amuse myself.

* * *

**ME: This 1st chapter basically serves as a prologue of sorts. Well, I hope you enjoy this story! Read and Review!**

**ICHIGO: No fair! You didn't let me say anything!**

**ME: Deal with it. :P**

**ICHIGO: ...Shuddup!**


	2. I'm Not Crazy!

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH, KUBO TITE DOES.**_  
_

* * *

_BEEP! Click._

I turn my head towards the door as a timid nurse walks in with Hideki following closely behind her.

When I first got here, I attacked a nurse who was trying to give me my meds. Every day since then, it's been required for staff members to have a guard with them before entering my room. A small price to pay for attacking the bastard. I still say he deserved it.

"Uh- um... you're Kurosaki I-Ichigo, correct?" She asks me me, her voice trembling.

"I'm offended! You just met me and you're already afraid," I tell her, pretending to be highly offended.

"Ichigo, shh," Hideki tells me before turning to the nurse. "Don't speak to him too much, He's well known for twisting peoples' words.

"Y-yes."

"Eh? Since when have I ever done that?" I ask, feigning innocence.

Hideki groans. He obviously doesn't feel like dealing with me today. "You've done it to _every_ nurse whose had the displeasure of being assigned to you." He directs his attention back to the nurse. "Moka, ignore anything he says to you, he just wants to break you. It's all a game to him."

"Yes, I'll... try to keep that in mind." She places the cup of pills on the table without meeting my eyes.

My table, like everything else in my room, has been bolted to the floor. That's also apparently my fault. I once threw the table at Jin, a guard who seriously gets on my nerves, and sadly, I missed.

I stared at the cup without blinking. "Just so you know, I'm not taking those."

"Um... I'm afraid that you have to-"

"Have to my ass. I don't _have_ to do jack shit," I tell her, starting to smirk.

"Uh-ah, if you don't take them, then... then I'll go get Katamura-san."

"_He's not here. He left to go to a meeting over an hour ago_," Anzu says as she fades into view.

"Really? Lucky me," I say.

"Uh... What?" Moka looks confused.

"Hmm? You're still here?"

"_She's your new nurse?_" Anzu asks.

"Yep, she sure is," I reply.

"Is he talking to me or someone else?" Moka asks Hideki.

"I'm not sure, but I think he's talking to one of his 'friends,'" He tells her.

"The proper term is 'ghosts,' though, I do have to agree that she's a friend," I say.

"What did... your friend tell you?" Moka asks me.

"She told me that Katamura isn't here." My smirk widens. "You can't make do shit." Moka's face pales considerably. Me knowing this has obviously rattled her.

Anzu laughs. "_Here we go again. This one is so wimpy, this ought to be fun._"

"I have to agree with you. By the looks of her, my guess is that she'll only last a couple of days," I tell Anzu.

She laughs that shrill laugh of her's before smiling at me. "_Well, as fun as it is helping you torment the poor staff, I'm gonna go. Tell me how this ends later._"

"Will do," I tell her just as she fades out of view.

Moka, believe it or not, manages to pale even more. Hideki has to grab her shoulders to prevent her from falling over. "I told you to ignore him, didn't I? Now c'mon, we'll talk to Katamura-san when he gets back."

"O-ok..."

They exit the room and I chuckle. I honestly can't believe Katamura would assign such a wimpy person to _me_ of all people. Haha. I guess he couldn't find anyone else.

* * *

Ayu runs through my door, her pigtails bouncing with every step. "_Ichigo! Ichigo! There are two people coming to see you!_" She excitedly yells.

"Visitors?" I question her. No one has visited me since I was thrown in this god forsaken place.

"_Uh-huh. But they're a bit odd. They, like you, can see me!_" Now _that's_ interesting.

_BEEP! Click._

I look towards to door and my curious expression quickly turns into one of contempt as I register the couple who walk in. Ishida and Inoue.

"Well, it sure did take you guys long enough to come and see me. I guess that just goes to show how much friendship is worth," I snap at them, venom in my voice.

"S-sorry-"

"Sorry? SORRY!? I'm _sorry_, but sorry doesn't cut it!"

"Would you please let me finish? No one visited because, well, how do I put this... we weren't sure if-"

"If I was really crazy? I assure you that I'm not, at least, not yet," I say, cutting Ishida off. Inoue doesn't say anything, she just stands there avoiding eye contact with me. I smirk. "You know, the _least_ you could do is talk to me, but then again, you'll probably end up saying something that'll just end up getting me even more pissed than I already am."

"Kurosaki, that's a little uncalled for."

"Even more so than you guys abandoning me here? You know, this place isn't exactly what I'd call paradise."

"He's right, Ishika-kun, we were wrong not to do anything. If we'd really tried, then maybe we could have avoided this all together," Inoue tells him.

"You're kidding, right? Them thinking he was crazy was the only thing that kept them from throwing him in prison. Shit, they probably would've had him executed," Ishida tells her..

Our eyes meet for an instant. "Can you tell me something? Do you _really_ believe that I'm a complete and total nutcase? Tell me truth, I'll know if you're lying."

He sighs. "I honestly don't know, but you can't blame me. There's proof that you are... Then there's proof that you aren't. Plus there's the fact that I haven't interacted with you in almost 6 years."

"And whose fault is that?" I take notice of the manila folder in his hand for the first time. "What's that?"

"A copy of your file." He holds it out for me to take and I cross the small room to retrieve it. "I got it from Ryūken, he-"

"Him, Katamura, and some other dude own this place, I know," I say as I flip to folder open, looking at it's many contents. I flip through a few pages until I find a picture of me paper clipped to a very promising document, it seems to have most of my basic info on it. I stare at the photo as I play with my bangs. My hair is getting a little long... I direct my attention away from the photograph and to the actual document. I frown at the words "paranoid schizophrenia" and "explosive intermittent disorder." Those two things are the only proof that I'm actually crazy. I mean, I know a lot of my "schizophrenic symptoms" are because of my ability to see ghosts, but I do occasionally see, or hear, things that aren't really there. It's highly troubling.

"What's wrong?" Inoue asks, her eyebrows knitting together. It's quite obvious that she's picked up on my displeasure.

"Nothing," I lie, closing the folder and handing it back to Ishida. "So, what's the real reason you're here? I know for a fact that you didn't come for tea and cookies."

"We've actually been starting to doubt that you're as crazy as the doctors here say. Plus, I don't think you'd ever hurt you're dad, let alone _kill_ him," he tells me.

"How do plan on _proving_ that? My dad was killed by a supernatural being. If you were to try to prove that, they'd throw you in here without a second thought," I say. If he thinks otherwise, then he's lost his mind. And If that's the case, then maybe he_ should_ join me here.

"Do you still believe it was a demon, not a hollow?" He asks. The question catches me off guard.

I nod. "Of course I do! I saw it with my own eyes! I mean, It was _exactly_ how those old myths and stories described. It could change it's form and those who weren't spiritually aware couldn't see it."

Inoue shutters. " I _really_ don't wanna believe that demons of that caliber exist. Even shinigami and arrancar are terrified of the thought of them really existing."

"There's plenty of reason behind it. That _thing_ killed my dad, who was, at some point in time, a _captain_. It was all over before I could do anything to stop it. It really is something to be feared," I say. My hands start to tremble at the memory. I ball them into fists to calm them.

_ BEEP! Click._

All of our attention is directed to Katamura as he enters the room. "_Ichigo._" He sounds pretty pissed. "I was called from my meeting on the other side of town because of you. You made Moka, the nurse I assigned to you before I left, faint. This is the last time I'm telling you this. Stop. Tormenting. My. Staff." He looks over at Ishida and Inoue, seeming a little confused. "Wait, aren't you Ishida's son?"

"Yes, I am."

"And who is she and why are you two here?" He looks around. "And why isn't there a guard with you?"

"She's Inoue Orihime and we came to visit him. We're old friends. Why do we need a guard?"

"Because he's dangerous, he's attacked every staff member here, including me, at least once. And what do you mean you're visiting him? He's never once had a visitor."

"What kind of worthless point are you trying to make?" I ask him, my eye twitching.

"Who are you?" Inoue asks him.

"I'm Katamura Saizo-"

"Hey! Are you really ignoring me!?" I yell at him, annoyed.

"I'm Ichigo's-"

"Witch doctor."

Katamura glares at me. "Psychiatrist is the proper term."

"Maybe in _your_ dictionary," I retort.

Katamura stares at the untouched cup of meds that Moka left on the table before directing his attention back Ishida and Inoue. "So you're friends with him?"

"Yes, these traitors were once my close friends. Hence the words 'were' and 'once,' as if in past tense," I say as I flop down on the edge of my bed. Ishida furrows his eyebrows and Inoue starts to play with the hem of her shirt.

Katamura once again glances at my meds. The fact that I haven't taken them is obviously making him nervous. "Ichigo, could you please take your pills?"

"Nope, not happening."

"Kurosaki, If you need you're medication, then you really should-"

"Why the hell should I take crazy pills when I'm not crazy!? That doesn't make any sense!" I yell. I've been fighting with people about this since day one, but Katamura refuses to give in and let me go without the damn meds.

Katamura sighs. "I'm afraid that I'm going to ask to two of you to leave."

"Why? Is him not taking a couple of pills really that bad?" Inoue asks him.

"Yes, it is, like I said before, he can get pretty violent. The medication helps keep him calm... at least calm enough so that he doesn't have to be under constant restraint," He explains to them without taking his eyes off of me.

"And if I refuse to take them, then he has me restrained long enough to force me to take them. Isn't that right, Ka-ta-mu-ra?"

"I'll ask the two of you to leave once more. I wouldn't want you to get hurt," he tells them.

I scoff. "You really think I'd attack them? I'm highly offended."

"You're a _very_ unpredictable man. The aftermath of underestimating you is _never_ pleasant. Now then. unless you suddenly decide to cooperate, I'm going to have to make your friends leave. And, might I add, if I have to force you, then I'll have you straight-jacketed and thrown into the padded room," he tells me, his voice pure ice.

"Fine! I'll have to talk to you guys later," I tell the two traitors. I hate the padded room, but also hate those damned pills. If anything, they're _making_ me crazy.

"But-"

"C'mon, Inoue-san, let's not make things worse." Ishida grabs Inoue by the arm and pulls her out the room. He pauses halfway through the heavy metal door. "I'm _begging_ you, don't disappoint me further."

Katamura sticks his head out the door, turning his back to me just long enough to order a couple guards into the room with a straight-jacket. I groan. Here we go again.

"I'm not getting into that thing," I tell him as I glare at damned thing. "It's demeaning, even to a crazy person, which, I may add, I'm _not._"

"Whatever you say. Hey, Jin, Hideki, Help me get him into that."

I groan yet again. "What the hell is wrong with you people? I tell you that I'm not gonna take my meds and your first reaction to that is to shove me into a- Hey! Don't touch me!" I yell as I jerk my body away from Jin. Him and Hideki both grab me and I start flailing around in an attempt to break free of their grasp. Wait... I suddenly notice something and freeze. The idiots forgot to close the door... I bash my head against Hideki's face and he lets go of me. Jin's grip slackens for and instant and I use to opportunity to jerk myself free and dash out the door.

"Shit!" Katamura cusses, realizing his stupid mistake.

I dash madly down the stark white corridor with the two guards chasing after me, yelling at the people in the hallway to grab me before I get away.

I slide into the closing elevator and grin through the narrow slit at those two idiots as they try to make it to the elevator before it closes. They, as you might have guessed, fail horribly.

"Uh..." I turn to look at the young woman behind me. She looks a little shocked.

"Don't say a word," I tell her before clicking the button for the 1st floor. We make it there with in a minute and I dash toward the doors leading into the lobby only to find them locked. Katamura must have called the guards down here and made them lock the doors the second I ran out the room. Damn him!

"There he is!" I hear Hideki yell as he and Jin round the corner. I take it that they ran down the stairs.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" I yell as I try to force the damned doors open. It's no use, they were specially designed to keep people like me in.

I'm suddenly slammed to the ground. I hear the clapping hands of a single person. "Wow. That was your most impressive escape attempt yet," Katamura says. I glare at him as I try to force myself from under the heavy guards.

"What's happening- Kurosaki?"

"We accidentally left the door open while we were trying to restrain him. He you used the opportunity to try to escape," Katamura explains.

"So you weren't bluffing about having him restrained?" Inoue asks, worry in her voice.

"I don't bluff, empty words have no effect on him." Katamura says as he runs a hand through his hair. "Know then, Ichigo, you're going to come with me and take your medication. You're violent enough without it."

"I'm not that violent!" I yell at him, still straining against the guards.

A male nurse holding a syringe runs up to us. "Please hold him as still as possible," He instructs Hideki and Jin.

"Oh, shit," I mutter. I already know what's in that huge syringe of his, it's a sedative The nurse grabs my arm and stabs the needle in the crock of my arm and presses the plunger. I instantly feel the effects of the sedative.

"You're such a pain in the ass," Katamura says before I black out...

* * *

I stare up at my ceiling. I'm so unbelievably glad to be out of that damned padded room. Katamura kept me in there for three friggin' days! I really ought to kick his ass.

_Knock-knock. BEEP! Click._

"What is it?" I ask without looking to see who it is. I honestly don't care at the the moment.

"A-are..." Moka pauses for a moment. She seems to be building up her courage "Are you ok? A couple of days ago... I saw it... You-um, got tackled pretty hard. You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm fine. Leave me alone. I'm in a bad mood," I tell her. She doesn't move, she just continues stand there.

"_Do you want me to scare her away?_" Ayu asks me.

"Please do."

"_Ok!_"She runs over to Moka and and tugs at her skirt.

"What the- Ah!" She starts to flail around in a manner that closely resembles a chicken. I smirk. "What's touching me!?"

"The would be Ayu."

"Ayu?" She looks rather startled at this. "As if in the little girl who stabbed herself to death?"

"Bingo! You're not as stupid as I thought," I say.

Moka pales and screams yet again before running out of the room, slamming the door so hard behind her that the sound echos for a while. Ayu laughs uncontrollably at this.

Speaking of Ayu... I look at the chain on her chest. She's running out of time. She's been here for almost a year and a half and she almost out of links. I frown. "It's getting dangerous for you stay here in the world of the living."

Ayu Holds the remaining links in her hand. "_Yeah, I know, but... I don't wanna go._"

"Yeah, I know you don't wanna go, most spirits don't. But... If you stay here too much longer, then you might turn into a hollow," I say.

"_Yeah, but..._"She sighs. "_Ok. I get it. I'll try a little harder to pass on._" She smiles at me before fading out of view. I wonder where ghosts go when they're out of sight like that...

_BEEP! Click._

"_Ichigo_! Didn't I tell you to stop tormenting my staff!?" Katamura yells at me.

"Yeah. A million times. But it wasn't my fault, she was annoying me. Plus, it wasn't me, it was Ayu.," I tell him, crossing my arms.

He pinches the bridge of his nose and groans. "Not this again. Ichigo, Ayu is _dead_."

"I know that!" I glare at him. He's pissing me off.

"And it's the same thing with Anzu, she too is dead! Yet for some reason unknown to me, you seem to think otherwise. I don't get it, it should be pretty obvious to you that they're not real. They're _hallucinations_!"

"I don't hallucinate! I've told you this a million times! I. Can. See. Ghosts!" I yell at him, but he, as always, doesn't believe me.

"Ichigo, just... never mind. Just do me a favor and stop tormenting my staff. They're real living people, not toys. They're not here to serve as your play things." He leaves the room.

"And whose fault is that? You don't let me do anything else. It's because of your stupid rules that I have to use them as toys," I whisper at the door.

* * *

**ME: Pretty good, eh?**

**ICHIGO: Mhmm... whatever you say.**

**ME: So cruel... Well, you know the drill.**

**ME & ICHIGO: REVIEW!**


	3. Bribery

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH, KUBO TITE DOES.**

* * *

I stare at the chocolate bar on the metal table. Katamura hasn't ever given anything. He's stingy like that. So for him to do this, he _has_ to up to something.

"Anzu. what's he up to?" I whisper loud enough for Anzu, but too low for Katamura. I usually don't talk to ghosts in his presence because it usually results in us fighting about my sanity, but this particular occasion is different, there's no way in hell I'm going to figure out his motives on my own.

"_From what he said to several others, I take it that he wants to bribe you into behaving._"

I raise an eyebrow at this. "That's pretty desperate. I mean, I love chocolate a lot, but I don't think I love it to the point that I could be bribed with it," I say, more so to Anzu than to Katamura.

"I'm not trying to bribe you, that'd just be plain stupid. I'm attempting to_ negotiate_ with you. For every 2 days you behave, I'll give you a candy of choice," He explains.

I snort. "I can believe you, you _are_ trying to bribe me with candy. I hate to disappoint you, but I not as gullible as a five year old."

"Alright, I get it, you don't want it. I'll just take this with me, then. My granddaughter ought to like it." He goes to pick the candy-bar up and I frown. I know I said that I couldn't be bribed with sweets, but I honestly can't remember the last time I had chocolate.

"Fine! Deal! Now hand it over!" I yell, giving in to the extreme temptation. Katamura places the candy-bar back on the table and I snatch it up and rip it open before breaking off a square and popping it in my mouth. I can't believe he reduced me to this level.

"I knew you'd eventually see things my way."

"Don't act to high and mighty. And just so you know, if I get pissed, I'm still gonna reek havoc," I warn him.

"Sadly, I expected nothing more of you. But stopping your _intentional _abuse is enough to keep me happy for the time being," he says.

I pop another piece of chocolate in my mouth. I'm in my own personal heaven right now. "I honestly can't believe you're trying to 'sweeten me up' with actual sweets. I must annoy you more than I thought," I say, smirking.

"I hoping it works. If punishing you didn't work, then maybe praising you will." He leaves the room and I hear the lock click into place.

"_So, how long do you plan on going along with him?_" Anzu asks me.

"Until I get too bored to resist toying with his staff." I re-wrap the candy-bar and place it on the table. "Anzu?"

"_Hmm?_"

"What season is it?"

"_Winter._"

"Any snow?"

"_Not yet. The season has just begun, but it's extremely cold out. It'll probably snow soon._"

I look at the wall right where a window would be if this room had one. The thing about being locked in a windowless room is that it's impossible to tell what going on on the outside. I want to go outside so badly it hurts. "I think I'm going to try to convince Katamura to let me go outside."

"_I highly doubt that he'll agree to that. He'll probably assume that you'll try to run away the second you step out into the open_," She says.

"I know, but it's worth a try-" I'm cut off by the sound of a hollow shrieking. By the sound and feel of it, I take it that it's in the building somewhere.

"_Ahhhhhhhh!_" Ayu screams as she runs through the wall. "_Ichigo, there's a monster here!_" She hugs my waist, her whole body is trembling. I feel a brief relief from her being in one piece, but it's short-lived due to another shriek from the hollow.

"Dammit," I swear. One of the worst things about this situation is that I'm locked in a small room with no way out. I honestly don't think a single person exists with luck worse than mine. Ayu's grip on me tightens, bringing me back to reality. "Anzu, take Ayu and run as far as you can go. If you stay in the building, you'll be the perfect bait for that hollow."

"_But_-"

"No buts! Don't worry, I'll be fine. I've dealt with millions of hollows in the past. Now go!"

Anzu nods in understanding, but her expression is pained. It's quite obvious that she doesn't want to go. She grabs Ayu and pulls her away from me and they the run. I start pumping out my reiatsu so that I can draw the hollow away from whomever it's after. They huge crash outside my door confirms that it worked. One thing I've learned in the past is that they don't care whats between them and their prey, meaning, it's gonna smash through my wall without a second thought. I'm going to have to use that to my advantage if I want to live. It, as I knew it would, smashes my wall to oblivion and I dash past it and into the hallway. I jump into the huge hole in the floor and land, but I'm smashed to the ground before I can fully stand. That damn hollow is faster than I thought it would be.

"Oh my god! Are you ok-"

"Stay back!" I yell at the nurse. She flinches but continues towards me. "I said stay back! Get any closer and you're gonna die!" She freezes and I see recognition flash in her eyes. She turns and runs away. She probably thought that _I _was gonna kill her. Great. I'm gonna catch hell about that if I live long enough for Katamura to get a hold of me. The hollow shrieks and presses down twice as hard on me. I squeeze my eyes shut and scream out in pain. It's gonna break my back at this rate!

"El Directo!"

The heavy weight on me suddenly vanishes and I feel a strong pair of arms pull me up. A sharp pain shoots through my back as I stand, causing me to wince.I open my eyes just in time to see a heavy pink cloud burst through the building. The remaining people in the hall look around.

"Was I the only one who saw that!?"

"No, I saw it too!"

"That was scary!"

"Ichigo, are you alright?" Chad asks me.

"Huh? Oh... Yeah, I'm fine." I take a good look at my old friend. He, believe it or not, is bigger than he was the last time I saw him. I look to left. Rukia looks basically the same. We stare each other down.

"Ichigo!" I flinch at the sound of my name. I whip around just in time to see Katamura charging at me full speed. "What the hell is going on? And why aren't you in your room?"

"Um... Uh..."

"Ninja bombs went off all over the building!" A nurse tells him.

"Oh, I understa- What!? That's preposterous! Have you lost your mind!" He yells at him

"Rukia...," I whisper.

"You know how it works, it's completely random," she whispers back.

"What about you two, did you agree with him?" Katamura asks Chad and Rukia.

"Yeah. We saw them go off," Chad lies.

Katamura's eyebrows go up to his hairline. I've never seen this expression before, it's rather funny. "You've got to be kidding me."

"It's true, they blew up my wall," I say. The more he believes this, the better.

"I'm not about to trust _your_ word on this. You imagine too many things," he tells me. I glare at him. He looks back to the duo. "Who are you two?"

"No one important. We just happened to be here when the bombs went off. I even saw one of the ninjas escape from the building," Rukia says. I have the feeling that she's having fun with the ninja lie.

"So it did happen?"

"Uh-huh."

He sighs. "What the hell is wrong with people these days?"

"It quite simple, they're losing their minds," I say, smiling a little.

"Ichigo, I'll tell you once more to be quiet." I roll my eyes at this.

Chad moves a little and his arm accidentally bumps against my back. I yelp. "You're hurt," he says. It's more of a statement than a question.

"No, I'm fine- Hey! Don't touch me!" I yell as Katamura forcibly turns me around lifts the back of my shirt.

"Your entire back is badly bruised. How'd this happen?" There's worry in Katamura's voice.

"Holy shit! Ichigo, why didn't you say something?" Rukia asks.

"Because, I didn't know it was so bad, all I knew was that my back was hurting," I say, trying to keep the pain out of my voice as Katamura's cold hand brushes against the tender flesh.

Katamura groans. "How the hell did you do this?"

"None of your business- Ow!" I scream as he purposely applies pressure to my back. "I fell! Now stop touching me!" Saying that I fell is the best I can do. If I were to tell him that I got smashed into the floor by a monster, he'd put me on heavier medication than what he's already got me on. I turn to face him, tear pricking the edges of my eyes. "That hurt, you bastard!"

"Blame your own self for being stubborn. That ought to teach you to answer more politely when I ask you a question," he tells me before turning to face Rukia. "Could you please be a dear and got get some ice-packs?" It still amazes me how much his tone changes between talking to patients and talking to people he doesn't know.

"Sure." She runs off towards the elevator.

"Could you please hold him still for me?" He asks Chad.

"Why?" He asks, suspicion in his voice.

"Because, if you don't hold him for me, I'm going to have to call some guards and they're not going to be gentle in the slightest.," he explains.

Chad wraps his arms around me and Katamura pulls a syringe from his coat pocket. "What's that?" He asks.

"Nothing much, just a sedative. You see, Ichigo can be rather violent, so I can't have him running around doing whatever he pleases, someone would most likely end up hurt. To prevent such... accidents, I'm going to knock him out for a bit. Under normal circumstances, I'd just have a couple guards drag him back to his room, but with his wall being supposedly destroyed, well, that just wont do." He goes to grab my arm, but I jerk away from Chad's loose grip and smash into a wall, sending multiple waves of pain through my back. This phases me just long enough for Katamura to stab my arm and press the plunger, sending the sedative into my blood stream. My knees give out on me and Chad catches me before I can hit the floor. I glare at Katamura. I'm getting tired of this shit. Being sedated is extremely unpleasant.

* * *

**ME: Yes! I've managed to do yet another chapter!**

** ICHIGO: Why are you gloating over such a short chapter?**

** ME: Meanie... *Goes over to my emo corner to pout***

** ICHIGO: *sighs* She really does have issues... Well, review.**

** ME: I can't believe you said it without me! T^T**

** ICHIGO: Fine, we'll do a re-do. Happy?**

** ME: Yes.**

** ICHIGO & ME: Review!**


	4. Why Me?

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH, KUBO TITE DOES.**

* * *

According to Katamura, there aren't any rooms available for me to be placed in while they fix my wall, so he ended up strapping me to a bed in the infirmary and placing about ten ice packs on my back.

"Why can't you just place me in a room on the third or forth floor?" I ask him.

"Because, I know for a fact that if you were to try hard enough, you could escape from the rooms on the third or forth floor," he coldly states.

"What makes you think that?" Rukia asks him.

"When he first got here, I gave him a room on the third floor, but I moved him to forth after he attacked me. He broke the window, which was two inches thick, with his fist a few days later. I'm pretty sure the only thing that kept him from jumping out the window was the fact that it had bars on the outside." He pauses for a second. "The windows on third don't have bars over them," he explains.

"So instead of placing me in a room and risking me escaping, he straps me to a bed. Speaking of which, I'm starting to get stiff."

"Deal with it," he tells me. Heartless bastard.

I start struggling against the straps, causing a couple ice packs to fall to the floor. "This is humanly wrong! Aren't there laws against this type of thing!?" I yell.

"Not in an asylum," he says, crossing his arms. I glare at him.

Chad picks up the fallen ice packs and place them back on my back. "Thanks."

"Mmm." He smiles at me.

Katamura stands. "I usually wouldn't ask this of non-employees, but could the two of you watch him for a little bit? There are some things that I need to do and they're not going to get done unless I'm there to do them." He looks at me. "And one of them involves figuring out what to do with this hellion."

I stick my tongue out at him. "I'm not a hellion."

"Trust me, you are."

"We'll watch him. Right, Sado?"

"Yeah."

Katamura nods a thanks before leaving the infirmary. As soon as the door closes, Rukia sits beside me. "Ichigo, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Go ahead."

"How much of what's written in your medical records is true?" She asks.

I stare at her for a moment. "You're gonna have to be more specific than that. I don't know really know what's written in my records."

"OK... First question: do you really have schizophrenia?"

"Kind of. It's not as bad as the doctors say, though. Most of my 'symptoms' are just me being caught talking to ghosts. I almost never imagine things," I say.

"OK, questions two and three: How bad is you explosive intermittent disorder? And do you really attack the staff?

"Um... Do I have to answer that?" I ask her.

"Mhmm."

I sigh. "It's actually pretty bad. I get angry over nothing and my anger has a tendency to spike without warning once I'm fired up. And yes, I have attacked staff members in the past, but in my defense, they started it."

Rukia stares at me for a moment. "Final question: were you _always_ so violent?"

"I'm not _that_ violent. I mean, I haven't even tried to physically attack someone in over a month," I whine. My limbs are starting to get really sore from be held by these damn straps... "Can you guys _please_ undo these restraints? I promise you that I won't get off the bed."

"Ichigo, do you realize that doing that would ultimately result in us being kicked out and banned?" Rukia asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Fine. Be that way. I guess I'll just lay here and suffer," I say, hoping they'll release me out of pity.

Rukia sighs. "It can't be _that_ bad."

"Unless you've endured such torment yourself, your not allowed to comment on how bad it is," I tell her.

"Fine. Sado, strap me to that bed over there," She demands. I sigh. I can't believe she's really suggested doing such a thing. Rukia lays down on the other bed and Chad reluctantly straps her to it. She stays there for about five minutes. "You're right, these _are_ uncomfortable. Sado, you can unstrap me now."

"OK." As he unstraps her just a nurse walk in the room.

"What are you doing?" She asks, looking at the restraints in Chad's hands. She probably thinks he just released a loonie.

"Busted," I say.

"Ichigo, shush. This isn't what it looks like, I'm not a patient. I was just seeing how comfortable the restraints are... They're absolutely dreadful," Rukia hurriedly explains.

"I assure you that she's telling the truth," I say.

"Is that so.. Wait... You're..." The nurse pales.

"Considering your expression, I take it that you've heard of me, or worse, been assigned to me," I say, a grin spreading across my face.

"I'm afraid that that's the case. I was one of your first nurses... You threw a fork at me."

"A fork?" I think back for a moment. That sounds familiar... "Oh, yeah, I remember you. Well, I remember your face, you're name... Not so much."

I see Rukia jaw-drop out of the corner of my eye. "You threw a fork at her?"

"I was provoked." I look at the nurse. "You know, the next time a person whose supposedly insane tells you not to touch them, take a hint and don't touch them."

She sighs. "Yes, I know that now. I assure you that I haven't repeated that mistake." she goes over to the medicine cabinet and take out a couple bottles and pours the pills into a plastic cup. She walks back to the door, but pauses in front of Rukia and Chad. "If I were you, I'd be careful around him. He's a million times more dangerous than he looks. And he doesn't just attack physically, he does it mentally, too."

She exits the room and Rukia looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "Mentally?"

"It's kind of a long story." I not _about _to tell them about my mind games, that'd just be giving them the perfect excuse to brand me as insane and abandon me again.

The and Inoue bursts in through the door. "Ah-Ha! I'm so happy I found you on the first try! I was told you were somewhere other than your room, but when I tried to find out where from the nurses, they told me that they didn't know, so I had to find you myself." She blinks a couple times. "Ah! What happened to you!?"

"He got smashed by a hollow," Chad explains.

Inoue gasps. "Oh my god! Are you alright?"

"Other than the fact that my entire body is going numb from these straps and my back is killing me, I'm perfectly fine," I say.

"That's good, I guess, but why are you..."

"I'm strapped down because that bastard Katamura doesn't trust me. I'm actually offended by the fact that he actually believes I'd kill someone if he takes his eyes off me."

"That's your own damn fault and you know it. I wouldn't be so paranoid if you'd learn to keep you hands to yourself," Katamura says. I jump out of shock. I hadn't realized he was there.

"No, no, no. You've got it all wrong. You see, it's your staff who needs to learn to keep their hands to themselves. They touch me when I specifically tell them not to."

Katamura sighs. "Good lord. They don't _mean_ to touch you, it's accidental. But you can't seem to understand that. No, if a person _accidentally_ brushes up against you, then you will, quite literally, try to rip their arm off."

I huff in annoyance. "I've never ripped a person's arm off."

"I didn't say you did, I said you _tried_ to. I feel sorry for poor Hideki, his left arm hasn't been the same since."

"Shut up and leave me alone!" I yell at him.

"Have it your way." He turns to face my former friends. "I'm afraid that visiting hours are over. The three of you can come back tomorrow if you wish."

"Alright."

"Mmm."

"Fine by me." Rukia walks over and places a hand on mine. Katamura visibly stiffens most likely expecting me to attack her at any given moment. After realizing I'm not going to do anything to her, his expression quickly changes to one of contusion. The trio leave the room and Katamura walks over to me.

"Who _is _she to you? If she were anyone else, you would've tried to bite her," he says, his eyebrows knitting together.

"I haven't attempted to bite anyone in several months."

"You tried to bite Jin last- That's not the point! Stop trying to change the subject."

"I'm not trying to change the subject," I say, grinning.

"Yes you are, now pay attention to what I'm trying to say! My point is that you didn't try to hurt her for touching you."

"You're just looking too far into it. I'm pinned face down on a bed, I couldn't have attacked her if I tried."

"I know you better than that, if you wanted to do harm, then you would've fought against those restraints regardless of the pointless it would be. You didn't _want_ to hurt her. Now tell me, who is she to you?"

"None of your fucking business, so piss off," I snap at him.

"Actually, it _is _my business." He's starting to sound really annoyed. "For some reason unknown to me, you act a little bit more controlled with them around. In fact, you've even let them _touch_ you a couple times. I've never seen you act so behaved."

I sigh. I take it that he's gonna pester me until I tell him, so I might as well get it over with. "As you already know, they _used_ to be my friends. I guess it's just instinctive."

"Just like the other two."

"Bingo."

"So, do you have any idea why it took your 'friends' six years to visit you? I'm sorry, but this entire situation strikes me as odd."

"I don't know jack shit," I lie.

"I know that expression, you _do _know. If you don't fess up, then you've got a snowball's chance in hell at being unstrapped from that bed anytime soon." He crosses his arms.

I stare at him a couple seconds, debating whether or not I should answer. I _really _want to get off this bed... "They're apparently questioning my sanity. They're starting to doubt that everything written in my file is true."

He blinks a couple times. "So in a nut shell, you're telling me that your old friends are starting to doubt that your actually crazy? A couple days locked in the same room with ought to fix that problem."

"Don't you dare even think about trying out that theory of yours." I try to shift a little, but fail horribly. "Dammit! Katamura, get me out of this thing, it's making my entire body sore! If you leave me strapped to this friggin' bed any longer, I'm gonna be pissed!"

"Your already pissed," he says.

I glare at him. "I'm sorry, let me re-phrase that. I'm gonna be even more pissed than I already am!"

Katamura sighs. "Fine. I'll place you in an all body straight-jacket and place you in a room on the forth floor _after_ your back heals some. But until then, you're staying on that bed."

I groan. "C'mon, can't you put some medicine on my back to make it heal faster?"

"Well, there is _something_, but it's going to burn like hell. And there's also the fact that applying it will involve a lot of touching. And touching you is something a person wouldn't risk doing unless they have a death wish." So in other words, he's paranoid that I'll hurt someone.

"I'm offended that you don't trust me more than that," I tell him, false hurt in my voice.

"You brought my lack of trust upon yourself. I'll give you an inch on you leash and you'll try to run fucking mile. I learned the hard way that you can't be trusted." I frown. Now _that_ was harsh.

"Asshole," I mutter into the mattress.

You know what? I don't care if people trust me! Humph. The only thing trust gets you is betrayal, and _nothing_ can ever erase the scars it leaves behind.

* * *

**ME: Hahahaha! More epicness!**

**ICHIGO: It was still kind of short.**

**ME: Shut up! I was rushing! Anyways look at this, it my promotional poster for the story! :D (Take out the spaces) * hiddenflowerdesi. deviantart #/d5m9zdp ***

**ICHIGO: /looks at the poster/ Nice, very nice. **

**ME: /grins/ I know! :D**

**TOGETHER: Well, review!**


	5. Trouble

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH, KUBO TITE DOES.**

* * *

I break off a square of chocolate and toss it in the air before catching it in my mouth. Katamura rejected the idea of me going outside. Typical. Well, on the bright side, I'm back in my own room _without _a straight-jacket and I have Rukia here with me.

I break off another square and hold it out for her to take. "Want it?"

"Yeah. Thanks." I drop it in her hand and she pops it into her mouth.

"So, how cold is it outside?" I ask her. I'm _always_ curious about the weather.

"It's freezing. How come you ask that everytime I come?"

"Well, I haven't even _looked _outside in years. When I had first got here, they would let me into an isolated part of the garden, but they eventually decided that I was too hazardous to even leave the room. My point is, when you're trapped in a windowless cage, you tend you wonder about what's going on on the outside," I tell her. I toss another square of chocolate in my mouth. "I usually ask Anzu and Ayu about the weather... Well, I _asked_ Ayu before she passed on to the other side." I see Hideki roll his eyes at me. I glare at him.

"Hmm." I look back to Rukia. I wonder what she's thinking... "Do you think they'd let me give you photos? That would be the perfect way for you to see outside without actually going outside."

"You'd have to ask Katamura about that. He's the big dog in this part of the building. I'm positive he's agree to it, though," Hideki says.

"Who the hell asked you?" I snap at him. I had an arguement with him earlier today and I'm still pretty pissed about it.

"Easy now. I was just trying to help is all. No need to bite my head off."

"You're job isn't to help with things that don't require your attention, it's to stand there and look pretty while at the same time making sure I don't attack anyone. Now stay outta our business." I say as I wave him off.

Rukia scoots a little closer so that she can break off another piece of my candy bar. "So, were'd you get all the chocolate from?" She asks me.

"Katamura. He rewards me with it if I don't torture his staff. I tried to convince him to reward me with trips to the garden, but he refused. He's such an ass." I catch another square of chocolate in my mouth.

Hideki is staring me down like hawk would a field rat. Rukia being so close to me is obviously keeping him on edge. I scoff. "Stop looking at me like that, I'm not gonna kill her." I pull Rukia into a loose hug. "See? She's perfectly safe."

"Ichigo," he warns.

I groan and let Rukia go. "OK. OK. I wont hug her anymore. Don't get your panties in a bunch."

His frown deepens as he looks back to Rukia. "Kuchiki, I'd highly appreciate it if you didn't get so close to him."

"I'm not gonna attack her."

"I don't care. She's too close and I'm too far. If you were to get pissed at her, she'd be severely hurt by the time I got over there."

"Then why don't you move closer to us?"

"Because you try to kill me every time I get within five feet of you. I want to keep her safe without risking my own life, so could you please move away from him, Kuchiki?"

"Yeah." Rukia moves from the bed to one of the chairs bolted down beside the table.

I huff in annoyance. "Hideki, I'm not going to attack her. Don't you trust my word on that?"

"Trust has to be earned and It's pretty hard to trust the person who permanently damaged my arm," he says.

"That wasn't my fault, I was having a bad day," I say in an attempt to defend myself.

"For the record, you're in a bad mood six out of seven days a week." He takes his hands out his pockets and folds his arms over his chest. "I don't see how that day was any different."

"Well for starters, I had woke up feeling like shit just to be stuck with several needles in _both_ arms. Katamura and I ended up getting in argument about an hour later and I completely flipped out on him. Right as I was about to punch him _ you _came in and tried to get me to calm down before someone got hurt. I was so irritable that I didn't feel like hearing you talk talk so I ended to conversation the best way I knew how, with force. And just so you know, I didn't _intend_ to do so much damage when I grabbed your arm and flipped you," I explain.

"I know you didn't _mean _to do so much damage, but you did. That's why I don't trust you. You're extremely unpredictable, you even shock your own self with some of the things you do," he says.

I huff in utter annoyance. I _hate_ it when another person's point overrides my own. Rukia's expression catches my attention, she looks bewildered. She's obviously trying to find proof that I'm not crazy, but I keep on throwing evidence at her that proves I am. At this rate, she's gonna end up abandoning me here again. "Dammit."

"What's wrong?" She asks me.

"Oh, uh..." I need an excuse. I look down at the candy bar before hold the entire thing out to her. "I can't finish it. Take it with you when you leave."

"Oh, thank you." She gives me a weak smile before taking the candy bar from me and re-wrapping it in the shiny silver foil. She slides it into her coat pocket.

"_Aw. I can't believe you're giving her chocolate. That's such a sweet and romantic gift_," Anzu says as she starts to laugh. Rukia blushes a little.

"Shut up! It's not like like that!" I yell at her. Hideki shakes his head. He's most likely thinking that I'm talking to myself.

"_How rude of you! Well, on a more serious note, there something I _really_ need to tell you. It's urgent._"

"How so?" What the hell could be so urgent?

Her face darkens. "_I'm not uttering a word until she leaves. This isn't any of her business_," she says. It must be pretty bad for her to want no one else in the room when she tells me.

I give Rukia a pleading look. "Please go."

Rukia nods. She and Hideki leave and as they go out the door Hideki gives me a strange look.

"What happened?" I ask Anzu.

"_Do you remember me telling you about Tendō__?_"

"Uh-huh. She's Katamura's niece, right?"

"_Yeah... She killed him not too long ago. Ten minutes tops. No one else knows he's dead yet._"

Every hair on my body raises. "What...? H-How?"

"_She was out of her straight-jacket. I'm not sure how she got out of it, though. My guess is that someone took it off her. Anyways, when he walked in she bashed his nose in, killing him instantly. It was weird, after she did it, she burst into tears and started mumbling how it was all 'his' fault, but I've got the feeling that the person she was talking about, the person she's blaming it on on, isn't Katamura._" Her eyebrows are knitted together.

"Is she still in her room?"

"_Yeah. At least, she was when I left to come tell you what happened. See was too busy crying and mumbling to herself to care about the door being unlocked_," she says.

"I have to warn someone. She's completely insane, she might kill someone else after she leaves." I run over to the door and start pounding against it with all of my strength. "I need someone! I need someone _now_!" I yell at the top of my lungs. "C'mon! I need help in here!"

"Step away from the door, I'm coming in." I quickly run to the other side of the room as Jin opens the door. "What's the problem now- Damn, you as pale as a freaking ghost!"

"Listen to me and listen good! Katamura is dead, Tendō killed him!" I frantically yell at him.

He stares at me for a moment. "And what gave you that idea?"

"Anzu told me- Hey! Don't you dare roll you fucking eyes at me, I'm being serious. Piss me off and I'll rip 'em out of that stupid head of yours!" I scream at him. I'm not in the mood for being blown off. "This is a life or death situation here!"

"Ichigo, calm down. I don't know what's got you so freaked out, but I assure you that Katamura's fine-"

"He's not fine, he dead! And guess what? Once Tendō figures out the door is unlocked she's gonna stroll right on out of there out a reek more havoc than a million of me put together!"

I take step towards him and his face hardens. "Ichigo, keep your distance. I don't want a repeat of what happened a couple weeks ago."

"Call his cell."

"What?"

"I said call his cell."

"If I do that I might get fired-"

"I said call his damn cell! He _always_ answers his cell, even when he's with a patient. Him no answering ought to be proof enough." I getting more aggravated with him by the second. "I'm telling you, he's _dead_ and Tendō is gonna end up either hurting or killing someone else if you don't do something soon."

Jin sighs. "I not gonna-"

"Just do it all fucking ready!" I scream at him, taking another couple of steps toward him.

"OK. OK. I get it! I'll call his cell if you stop freaking out." He pulls out his cellphone and dials Katamura's number. The rings are so loud I can hear them all the way over here. It goes to his voice message after a couple minutes. Jin clamps the phone shut. He raises an eyebrow at the phone. "His cell must be dead."

"No, his cell is _fine_. He didn't answer because he's dead," I tell him.

"He might have forgotten it somewhere." Jin's eyebrows knit together. He knows how impossible that situation is, Katamura _always_ keeps track of his stuff, I honestly don't think he's lost a single thing in his entire life.

"Jin, stop making up excuses and believe me already. You're pissing me the fuck off!" I yell at him.

"Ichigo, this is the last time I'm going tell you to calm down. Keep this up and I'm going to have to-"

"Tendō got out and she has an ax!" A woman screams as she runs by my room.

"I told you so," I snap at him.

Jin's eyes widen. "How did you know she was gonna...?"

"I already told you. Anzu told me about it directly after everything went down, but _noooo_, you wouldn't believe me because I'm supposedly a lunatic," I spit at him. "Everyone in this damn place is fucking stupid!"

"I-I... But..." He whips around and runs out the room, leaving the door wide open. I blink once. Twice. Three times. Is God playing some sick game with me or was I just given the perfect opportunity to escape? I _really_ hope it's the later. I run out the room, Anzu following close behind me.

"_Are we getting out of here?_" She asks me.

"Yep."

"_That's good because __Tendō__ can see me too and I don't exactly want to run into her while she's out and about and in such a bad mood. You're tantrums are _nothing_ compared to hers._"

"That's understandable, the crazier the person is, the more dangerous they are," I say. I take a quick right and dash down the stairs, leaping over several at a time. The faster I get out of here, the better. We reach the lobby and I mentally cheer after I get through all the doors.

I rapidly blink my eyes when I step out into the sunlight. It's so frigging bright out here. I start to shiver. Not to mention cold. I wish I was at least wearing a pair of socks. I turn and look up at the windowless rooms at the very top of the tall building. I wonder which one Katamura is in. I walk to and around the gates and lean against the stone wall the separates the asylum from the outside world. I slide down it into the cold snow.

"_Ichigo, are you OK?_" Anzu asks me. "_You don't look too good._"

I don't say anything, I just stare at my feet. I can't believe Katamura's really dead, I can't believed he let her kill him. I mean, he may have been an ass, but I still liked more than anyone else in this crazy place... "I- I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I'm out, but..." I curl my toes up. "I just don't know." I rest my forehead on my knees. I'll think I'm just going to stay here and wait for some thing to happen. If I freeze to death, then so be it...

* * *

_Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep..._

I open my eyes to find myself in a hospital room with several IVs hooked to my arm. I sit up and groan. I feel like I got run over by a frigging train. A bubbly nurse walks in and I glare at her. I don't trust nurses nor doctors.

"I'm glad to see you're awake, you've been unconscious for three days," she says.

"How'd I get here?"

"Someone brought you in. He said he found you unconscious in the snow. It's freezing outside, you're lucky the cold didn't kill you. She walks over and reaches a hand out to me, but I jerk away from her."

"Don't touch me," I warn her.

"Oops. I guess I should have asked first. Can I please see if you have a fever?"

"If it involves touching of any kind, then no."

"OK. I won't touch you." She holds out a thermometer for me to take. "Could you please put this in your mouth?" I nod and stick it under my tongue and hold it out to her after it beeps. She looks at it and smiles. "Perfect temperature."

"OK. Can I leave?" I ask her.

"Not unless a doctor discharges you." Stares at me for several moments. "You know, it just dawned on me that I don't know your name, Ishida-san didn't give it me. Can you please tell it to me?"

Should I tell her my name? If I do, then I might be earning myself a one way ticket back to the loonie bin. What to do? What to do? "I don't know," I lie.

"You don't know?" She frowns.

"Um... no." I honestly couldn't come up with a better excuse.

"Are you sure? If you're worried about us knowing you name-"

"Don't worry, Yuki. I'll handle this," Ishida says as he walks in the room.

"Yes sir." The nurse leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

"What the hell do you want?" I ask him.

"What I want is to know why you were laying outside in the snow instead being inside the asylum."

"That's none of your business," I tell him.

"Kurosaki."

"I'm not talking." I pull the IVs out of my arm and get out the bed. "In fact, I'm leaving."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am." I cross the room but he stands in front of the door."

"You're not leaving until you tell me what happened," he says.

"Oh really?" I grab his arm and sling him half way across the room. He lands hard and glares at me. "Your fault, not mine."

I exit the room only to be grabbed by Hideki, Jin, and Kyosuke.

"Got ya!" Kyosuke yells triumphantly.

"We've been looking for you," Hideki says.

"So four-eyes _wasn't_ lying," Jin says.

"Let go of me!" I yell as I try to work my way out of their grip. Ishida steps of the room and I grit my teeth. "You fucking traitor, you told them I was here!"

"I had no choice in the matter," he says.

I thrust my entire body forward with so much force I'm able to free myself from the trio long enough to punch Ishida square in the face. The three guards quickly regain their hold on me. Ishida stares up at me from his spot on the floor, his nose is broken. As the guards start to pull me away, I start kicking and flailing and screaming at them to let me go, that I wasn't crazy and shouldn't have go back. I'm eventually jerked outside and forced into a straightjacket before being shoved into the back of a van. Ten minutes and a million death threats later, we're back at the Karakura Asylum. The van's doors open and I glare at muscled trio. There's no way in hell I'm going back into that place without a fight. I bare my teeth at them.

"Now, now. There's no need to act so vicious," a female voice says. A woman with black waist length hair pulled back into a braid steps into view. She's wearing a lab coat, so I take it she's a doctor.

"I doubt you'd say that if you where in my position," I snap at her. I know her kind, she uses false sweetness to trick misbehaving patients into politely obeying.

"It's not that bad here. C'mon, Ichigo, let's go inside-"

"Shut the fuck up with your 'I want to be friend' piece of shit attitude! I'm _not _stupid and I'm _not _falling for it!" I yell at her.

Hideki, Jin, and Kyosuke all nod in a silent agreement before jumping on top of me and holding me down. The woman hops into the truck with us, her heels clicking on the metal. She pulls a huge syringe out of her coat pocket. "I _really _didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice," she says before stabbing it into my thigh and pressing down the plunger.

"Bitch...," I say before blacking out.

* * *

_BEEP! Click._

I turn to face the door just as the bitch from before walks in. She's accompanied by both Jin and Hideki.

"Hello again. I'm sorry about whart happened earlier." Yeah right. "And I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Himura Akira, I'm-"

"My new quack doctor. I know, Anzu told me." I refuse to take my eyes off her. You shouldn't ever take your eyes off your enemy, that'll just get you killed.

"The proper term is-"

"I know what the 'proper term' for your kind, I just don't think it fits. You guys think you're helping us because _we're_ crazy, but in reality, _you're_ the ones who're actually crazy and you're just dragging us down to your level," I tell her, a smirk making it's way across my face.

Akira looks at Jin. "Is he always like this?" She asks him.

"I'm afraid so," He replys.

"Change of topic!" I yell, causing them to jump. "How long did it take you guys to find Katamura's body and restrain Tendō?" I ask.

"Who told you about that?" Akira asks.

"He already knew. It's freaky."

"Anzu told me, that's how I knew. There's nothing freaky about it." I glance at Jin. "But _somebody_ refused to believe me about it until it was too late. It was also that _same_ somebody who ran away and left my door wipe open, giving me the perfect opportunity to escape." I'm pretty much aiming to get Jin fired.

Hideki raises an eyebrow at him. "_You're_ the reason we had to look for him?

"I-I..." He noticed my growing smirk. "Don't believe him, I mean, look at his face, he's trying to set me up!" Jin yells as he points a finger at me.

I frown. "Two things: I don't lie and I'm just about to rip off that fat finger of yours."

"OK. Suppose you aren't lying, your _still_ a schizophrenic. You imagine things that aren't true, you're delusional!" He yells at me.

"I almost never imagine things, most of my supposed 'symptoms' are just me being caught in the act of talking to ghosts! I'm not a fucking lunatic!" I yell back as I get off the bed.

"Shit. Himura-san, leave. This might get dangerous. It would be bad if you got hurt," Hideki tells her.

"Try not to hurt him. Injuring patients is one of the worst things we can do, It's our job to help them, not hurt them," she says as she hurries out of the room.

Hideki step in-between Jin and I. "Ichigo, do you swear that what you're saying is the truth? Did Jin really run out and leave your door open?"

"I swear he did. What the hell would I gain by lying? It's hard enough to get people to believe me as it is," I say.

"What he'd gain would be getting me fired," Jin mumbles.

"Shut up, Jin, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Hideki!" I yell at him.

"I don't give a fuck who you're talking to, you insane brat!"

"What the hell did you just call me!?"

"That's enough!" Hideki yells, quieting us both. He grabs Jin by the collar of his shirt. "C'mon, we have to talk about this."

"W-Wait! Are you really going to believe him? Like I said, he's a schizophrenic freak- AH!" Jin yelps as Hideki smashes him against the heavy metal door.

"He not be 'all there' but that doesn't give you the right to talk to him like that. The mentally ill aren't freaks and should never be referred to as freaks. And just so you know, he may be crafty, but every game he plays, not matter how evil it may be, he does it without lying. I may not trust his actions, but I trust his words." Hideki then proceeds to literally drag Jin out of the room, closing the door behind them.

"_Do you want me to follow them?_" Anzu asks me as she fades into view.

"Yeah, I'd like that. I want to know if Jin gets fired... I hope he does," I tell her.

"_Ditto. I'll tell you all the juicy details as soon as it's over. Later._" She fades out of sight.

I go back over to my bed and flop down on it. I stare at the stark white ceiling before turning my head to look at my table. The pack skittles Katamura gave me not too long ago still lay there untouched. I get up and and pick the pack up. I stare at it for a while.

_For every 2 days you behave, I'll give you a candy of choice._

"Shut the hell up you bastard!" I yell as rip the red package open and throw it at the wall, sending a million rainbow colored candies flying across the room. I start to huff. That _idiot_! Why'd he have to go into Tendō's room alone? Why'd he let her kill him so easily? What the fuck was wrong with him!?

I start to viciously attack the door, using every martial arts move dad had taught before he died against it. I continue to attack it after the people on the other side start yelling at me to stop. I continue to attack it after my hands and feet start to bruise. I continue to attack it after they start to bleed, leaving red smears all over the door. I continue to attack it after I fall to my knees and every movement sends an intense wave of pain throughout my entire body. And I continue to attack after hot tears run down my face. I only stop after I faint from the blood I've lost through the huge gashes on my hands and feet.

* * *

**ME: AW... Poor Ichi...**

**ICHIGO: *in his emo corner* How could you do such a thing to me?**

**ME: Because I"m evil, that's how.**

**ICHIGO: *sobs***

**ME: I'm going to give him some time to cope, so I"ll say this by myself. Review! **


	6. And The Trouble Continues

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH, KUBO TITE DOES.**

* * *

I'm freaking the staff out more than usual. They're so used to my loudness that they're weren't sure what to do what I started refusing to talk a little over a week ago. I even refused to do so when Rukia and Inoue dropped by for a visit. According to Anzu, several people have suggested that Akira put me on antidepressants. Akira, however, refused to do so. She's been telling people that I talk whenever I feel like it and that I shouldn't be forced. I look down at my bandaged hands and feet and sigh. They hurt like hell. Stupid explosive intermittent disorder!

_BEEP! Click._

"Ichigo-"

"Leave me alone, Akira."

"I'm glad to see that you're talking again," she says as she shoves her hands into her pockets.

"I finally realized that being silent wasn't going to get me anywhere. Now get out," I demand. I suddenly realize something, she's alone. "Getting brave, are we?"

She smiles at me. "The first step in gaining a person's trust is to trust them yourself."

"This is an asylum, trusting patients too much will just get you killed." You'd think she would've learned that from what happened with Katamura. Is this woman stupid or what?

"I'm willing to step out of my comfort zone if that's what it take to get you to trust me." She gives me a sweet smile.

"I swear, it's ironic how similar the two of you are," I mutter.

"Huh?"

"Someone I used to know. She was all sweet and motherly on the outside, but on the inside, she was the most menacing person I've ever meet. She too was a doctor," I explain.

"Did you trust her?"

"I did... Doesn't matter, though, I don't trust anyone these days. Speaking of trust, if a man by the name of Ishida Uryū tries to visit me, tell him no. I can guarantee you that I'll attempt to kill him if he comes within one hundred feet of me," I tell her. I'm still extremely pissed at that traitor.

"I'll keep that in mind. Well, I just dropped in to check on you. Have a nice day, Ichigo." She leaves the room.

I stare at the door for several minutes before looking down at my feet.

_I still can understand why you refuse to wear socks._

That voice! "Katamura?" I ask as I look around the room, trying to find the origin of the voice and failing to do so. I rub the back of my head. "Hmm... I could have sworn I just heard Katamura's voice..." Did I imagine it?

_BEEP! Click._

I jump a foot in the air t the sound of the door opening. Kyosuke and the nurse with my meds walk into the room. She places the plastic cup full of pills and a cup of water on the metal table without saying anything. She leaves and Kyosuke follows her out of the room. I usually refuse to take the pills for my schizophrenia, but I'm starting to think that I need to start taking them. Hearing imaginary voices is usually a tell tail sign that you're losing it. I take the three pills out of the cup and swallow them using the water the nurse left for me.

"_Wow. I've never seen you take your medicine so willingly_," Anzu says.

I turn to face her. "Well, as of recently, I've been hearing voices... Imaginary voices that no one else but me can hear."

"_Hmm... Maybe Katamura's death caused it. You originally didn't hear them that much, correct?_"

"Yeah... I hope they stop, I would hate to actually go insane." As long the voices don't increase and I don't start seeing things, I should be fine... Right?

I look a Anzu. She, like Ayu before her, is starting to run out of links on her chain. She's going to have leave soon, and when she does... I'll be all alone in this damn place. I reach out and finger the chain on her chest before letting it slip out of my hand, the links clinking together as it falls.

"_I'm going to miss you_," she says, startling me.

"Yeah, ditto. Maybe you'll find Ayu. If you look hard enough, you just might find her. I bet she'll be looking for you, too," I tell her.

"_Mmm..._"

"Don't stay on my behalf, I'd hate myself if you got attacked or turn into a hollow." The sooner we get this over with the better.

"_I... I understand._" She gives me a sad smile. "_I hope we meet can meet again on the other side._" A single tear rolls down her cheek as she's surrounded by a bright light and her soul fades out of this world.

I take a deep breath. I wish such a thing was possible, but it's not. I'm not allowed to leave the asylum, let alone the world of the living, so I can't visit her as I please. And when I die... When I die, I'm pretty sure I'm going to hell for the things I've done. I sigh as I sink to my knees. It's like I said before, with her gone, I'm all alone in this hell hole. My ex-friends don't count as company, they only come for about an hour every couple of weeks. Ayu and Anzu... They were almost always with me, telling me secrets, jokes, and making me smile. I stand and cross over to the metal door that keeps me locked inside this windowless prison and start banging my already abused hands against it, each punch sending an unbearable pulse of pain through the tender flesh.

_Why must you inflict so much pain upon yourself? It wont fix anything._

"Shut the fuck up! You're not real!" I yell as I cover my ears with my throbbing hands. It's all in my head. It's all in my head. It's all in my head.

_That's not true. I'm just as real as you are._

It's all in my head. It's all in my head. My entire body starts to tremble. I faint.

* * *

"Ichigo... Ichigo... C'mon, wake up... Ichigo!"

I force my eyes open and the world blurs into focus. "Rukia?"

"Are you alright?" She asks me, worry in her voice.

I push myself up off the cold floor and look around the room. "Have you sensed anything... Weird?" I ask her. I'm hoping that I'm not really crazy and what I've been hearing is just a spirit playing a mean prank.

"No. Why do you ask?" She furrows her eyebrows.

Akira crouches in front of me and shines a light in my eyes.

"Gah! The hell are you doing? That hurts!" I yell as I back away from the tormenting light.

"I'm just making sure you OK. Hideki called me in here not too long ago, he told me that he found you passed out on the floor. "She clicks the small light off and drops it back into her pocket.

"Do me a favor and leave me the hell alone. Go on, skit," I tell her, already starting to get annoyed by her presence.

She stands and places a finger on her chin. "What was that line that you like to say to male guards? Oh, I remember! Don't get your panties in bunch." She runs out of the room madly giggling.

My entire face starts to twitch. "What the fuck are you trying to imply about me!?" I yell after her.

"Not so funny when it's said to you, is it?" Hideki says.

"Shut up! No one asked you for your opinion on this!" I yell at him.

I'm distracted away from Hideki by the sound of moving plastic. I turn to see Rukia digging through a plastic bag on the table. "I brought something for you," she says as she pulls out a small box and places it beside the now empty bag.

I immediately recognize the smell. "Doughnuts."

"Yep. They have cream filling, too." She smiles at me.

I walk over to the table and flick the lip open before pulling out a doughnut. "You just made my day. Thank you."

"You're welcome." She too pulls out a doughnut and takes a bite out of it.

I glance at Hideki, he obviously wants one, but doesn't want to ask. I roll my eyes. "Why don't you come over and get one instead of standing there drooling like a starving fog?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Stubborn ass. That's fine, just see if I ever try to be nice to you again." I turn my back to him and take a bite out of my doughnut. "It's still warm."

_I bet it's delicious._

I jump and look around wildly.

"What's wrong?" Rukia asks me.

"Please tell me you heard that."

"Hear what? Are you OK?"

I stare at her for a minute. She didn't hear it. "Y-yeah... Just forget I said anything, OK?"

"Hearing voices?" Hideki asks me.

I whip around and glare at him. "No! And just so you know, my 'craziness' is actually me communicating with the dead."

"So you _are_ hearing things, and by the way you're behaving, I take it that you don't know where it's coming from for once. Interesting."

"Shut up and leave me the hell alone," I tell him. I direct my attention back to the box of doughnuts. "Change of subject. Where'd you get these?"

"There's a bakery nearby, I stopped by on my way here." Her eyebrows are knitted together. She's obviously bothered by what just happened.

I glare at Hideki once again. He completely ruined the semi-happy mood. He's wearing an apologetic expression, but I don't care. I'm going to get revenge for this later. As for now... "Hey, Rukia, how are Yuzu and Karin doing?" My goal is to distract her away from the fact that I just got caught in the act of being crazy.

"They're doing good. Yuzu's cooking is still utterly amazing. She currently in culinary school," she says.

I grin. "That's awesome! What about Karin?"

"There's no simple way to describe what's she's been up to. She's been doing any and everything she possibly can. She's been traveling all over Japan. I'm happy because she's happy, but at the same time it makes me sad because I almost never get to see her."

My grin widens. I haven't heard anything from or about my sisters in six years... I wonder if they hate me. My smile quickly turns into a frown.

"What's wrong?" She asks me.

I stare at her for a minute, debating whether or not I should answer her. "It's nothing, but... Do my sisters hate me?"

"What!? No!" She exclaims.

"Then why haven't I heard anything from them!?" I demand.

Rukia's eyes start to waver. She looks down at her feet. "Because they don't know you're here. They were crushed after you're dad died and we all knew that they'd go from bad to worse if they knew what people thought of you. We them you had vanished."

"You..."

"I'm sorry." A couple tears run down her face as she turns and walks to the door. "I'll be leaving now. I have things to do." She leaves and Hideki follows. He gives me a sympathetic look as he closes the door.

My fists start to tremble. How _dare _they lie to my sisters! I grit my teeth. All this time, I thought they ignored me because they hated me, but in actuality it was because they didn't know I was here. I was so close to them and they didn't even know it. I'm currently more pissed than I've _ever_ been. Who the fuck do they think they are!? It's not up to them to decide what _my_ sisters should and shouldn't know! I begin to search the room for something to take my anger out on. Nothing. "Dammit!" I start to angrily pace around the room, huffing with every breath.

_Knock-Knock. Beep. Click._

"Ichigo, I brought you're lunch-"

"GET OUT!" I scream at the nurse.

"Y-y-yes!" She slams the door shut. I return to my pissed pacing.

_Taking your anger out on innocent people, you ought to be ashamed of yourself._

"Shut the fuck up! I don't need a lecture from someone who's not even real!" I yell at the voice that sounds like Katamura.

My door opens again and I whip around to find Akira standing by the door. "What's the problem in here?" Kyosuke leans against the wall next to her.

"None of your mother fucking business," I hiss at her though my teeth.

"Ichigo, getting angry with me isn't going to help fix the problem. Please tell me what's wrong."

"The entire fucking world is what's wrong! I don't understand why the people feel as if they have to treat me like I'm fucking trash! I talk to ghosts and I get put on fucking medication I don't even need! Someone get's killed in a supernatural accident and I get locked in a windowless prison!" I grab my hair and my entire body starts to violently shake. "It's not fair!"

"Did that girl say something to you?" Akira asks me, worry in her voice.

"It doesn't matter!" I yell at her. My hands fall to my sides and ball into tight fists.

"Yes it does. I was put in charge of you and that means I'm responsible for anything that happens to you. It's my duty as your doctor to keep you from getting upset like this," she tells me.

I grit my teeth and glare at her. "I'm not telling you jack shit. I know your kind, you act like you care about me when you really don't. All you care about is your paycheck."

"That's not true, I care deeply for all of my patients."

Liar.

"Seeing you upset bothers me."

Liar.

"I want to help you in any way possible."

Liar.

"Ichigo, listen to me-"

"Shut the fuck up!" I yell at her as I clamp my hands over my ears and sink to the floor. "I've heard enough lies!"

"Ichigo, I'd never lie to you," she says.

"I don't care. I don't care. I don't care! All I want is to be left alone!" I yell as I close my eyes. There's absolutely no sound in the room other than my rugged breathing. Akira and Kyosuke leave after a few minutes. I let my body relax little and I instantly regret it because I start to cry.

_Crying isn't going to fix anything._

That voice... It sounds just like dad's. More tears start to fall.

_Didn't you hear me?_

"Go away, go away, go away!" I yell. I'm tired of hearing the voices of the dead. "You're not real!"

After thirty minutes of crying non-stop and screaming at the voices to leave me alone, Akira comes back in and sedates me.

* * *

"I think Katamura's death is the main reason as to why he's been acting up so much. According to his file, he has a tendency to misbehave, but not like _this_," Akira says.

"That doesn't necessarily mean that's the cause of all this," Ryūken replys.

I stare at them as they talk. I honestly don't get why they've decided to hold their little argument in _my_ room.

"What do you think, Ichigo?" Akira asks me.

I just stare at her without meeting her eyes. I've gone back to not speaking again. I can't help it, my mouth refuses to work after I get really upset. This rarely happened before Katamura died, but when it did he'd refrain from fighting with me.

Ryūken sighs as he pushes his glasses up his nose. "He's not paying us a bit of attention. I think he's on planet strawberry." I glare at him.

"Well, he seemed to hear that."

"Back to the subject on hand. Ichigo, would you mind being moved to Karuizawa?" He asks me.

I shrug. I honestly don't care what they do with me anymore. Well... I don't mind as long as it doesn't involve needles, straigt-jackets, or padded rooms.

"I think it would be a good change for you." Akira tells me.

I shrug again.

"That's probably the closest thing to a yes that we're going to get from him." He looks at me. "He's always been difficult to deal with, every since he was a child. The more you want him to do something, the harder it'll be to get him to actually do it. I guess he never grew out of that rebellious attitude of his."

Akira looks back and forth between us. "Wait a minute. You two knew each other _before_ he was admitted here?"

"Yes. His father and I were close friends. It's because of that I'm not allowed to work with him directly, the higher ups believe it'll effect how I handle him. There always has to be a middle man," he explains.

"Oh, I get it."

I glare at her. She doesn't 'get' anything. I cross my arms and huff in annoyance. I'll be happy to be rid of this stupid woman. She smiles at me before she and Ryūken leave the room.

* * *

I scoot backwards on my bed so that my back is up against the cold wall. I shiver a little from the cold radiating off of it.

_Trying to give yourself a cold?_

"No," I mumble. I keep on trying to ignore the voices, but I always end up answering them instead. I sigh. "Why me?" I start to repeatedly tap my head against the wall.

_Because that's just the way things are._

"Shut up... Shit, I did it again." Ignoring something that sounds so _real_ is hard. I wish they'd just go away already. "Speaking of things that won't go away..." I turn to face the ghost sitting on my table. "How long do you plan on staying here, you old coot?"

"_Until I see my wife_," he responds.

"She's not here, so do me a favor and leave," I tell him. He's been sitting in that same spot for two days now and he's starting to get on my nerves.

"_Not until I see my Wife!_" He yells.

I feel a vein pop on my forehead. "Stubborn old goat."

"_Punk._"

"Taunting someone who's supposedly insane. I've got to admit, you've got guts, old man."

"_You started it._"

"And you added gas to the fire. Aren't old people supposed to act more mature than this?" I ask him.

He scoffs at me. "_Maturity is for businessmen and I'm _not_ a businessman._"

I don't make any further comments because I have the feeling that he's going to argue with me regardless of what I say. I fall sideways onto the bed and start to hum a song my dad had taught me when I was little. I try to remember the name of it and fail. Oh well, it'll come to me eventually.

* * *

**ME: I updated! YaY!**

**ICHIGO: Ever heard of being too happy?**

**ME: Such a thing doesn't exist!**

**ICHIGO: In my book it does.**

**ME: *sticks out tongue***

**ICHIGO: *does the same***

**OLD GHOST: Review and help me find my wife!**

**ICHIGO AND ME: Hey! No Fair, that's our line!**

**OLD GHOST: Deal with it!**


	7. New Building, New Room, New Idiots

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH, KUBO TITE DOES.**

* * *

I stare at the door to my new room with a raised eyebrow. "It's not locked?"

"Nope, and it shouldn't be unless you've done something bad enough to deserve being locked in your room," the nurse explains as she smiles at me.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Is there anything else I can do for you. Like get you some clothes for example."

I look down at what I'm wearing, which is a white t-shirt and red plait pajama bottoms. "I have clothes, I just don't like them," I explain.

"Then would you like me to get you some more pajamas?" She asks me, still smiling.

I think for a moment. "I guess."

"OK. I'll be back in a flash. Feel free to roam." She runs out of the room, leaving me a little confused. It's not every day that you see someone as happy-go-lucky as her working in a madhouse.

Well, she said I could roam, so I guess I'll do just that. I exit my room and pause in the hall right in front of my door. "Which way should I go- AH!"A girl with short brown hair slams into me and bounces backwards onto the floor. A fight to regain my balance, but after pinwheeling my arms for about thirty seconds, I too fall.

"Ow. Ow. Ow," she says as she looks up at me with her huge green eyes. I raise an eyebrow at her features. She doesn't look Japanese.

"Watch where you're going, kid," I say, a little bit annoyed with her.

"I'm not a kid! I'm twenty-one!" She yells at me.

"Are you sure? You look around fourteen to me."

Her shoulders slump. "I knew you were going to say that…" She looks back up and just stares at me.

"Um…"

"It's no use; I can't remember who you are."

"Remember me? We just met." This girl is a bit strange, but then again, this _is_ an asylum. I think I'd be even more shocked if she wasn't.

"Really? Well then, my name is Pitt Alex. What's yours?" She asks me, her eyes twinkling.

"Kurosaki Ichigo. Your name, are you a foreigner or something?" I ask her.

"Yep! Well… Kind of. My parents are from America, but I was born here in Japan," she explains.

"Oh, I get it. So why are you here?"

"Short-term memory loss. You see, unless I know something_ really _well, I'll forget it within a couple hours. What about you?" She asks me.

"Paranoid schizophrenia and explosive intermittent disorder," I say.

"I'm not gonna lie, I don't know what either of those are."

I sigh. "To put it simply, I hear voices in my head and I'll blow up for absolutely no reason."

Alex stares at me for a minute without blinking. I probably just scared her. Great…

"That's not so bad," she says, smiling at me. I raise my eyebrows in confusion.

"Didn't you just hear what I said?"

"Yes. Like I just said, it's not that bad. You see things-"

"I don't see things, I _hear_ things," I correct her despite how much I hate admitting that I hear voices.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Same difference."

"Hearing something and seeing something are two completely different things."

"Not really. Well, I hope I remember you later, I've got to go. Bye!" She yells as she takes off like a rocket down the hallway.

I sigh before standing and turning on my heel heading down the hall. Near the stairs, which are closed off by a metal gate, I see a little girl crying. Considering the fact that she's covered in blood and has a chain on her chest, I take it that she's a ghost. I crouch down in front of her and try to smile. "What's wrong?"

"_M-m-my mommy can't see me anymore_," she tells me, still crying.

I nod in understanding. "That makes sense. Not many people can see ghosts."

"_I know… Wait, you can see me?_" She asks me.

"Yeah." I wipe the tears from her cheeks with the pad of my thumb. "You know, if you were to cross over into the afterlife, everyone could see you. You wouldn't be so lonely anymore."

"_No! I don't wanna! I like it here!_" She yells.

"Huh? But weren't you just crying because nobody can see you?" I'm a little confused now.

"_No, I was just sad because mommy can't_," she explains. "_There are lots of people here who can see me, like Avril-chan_."

"Then you shouldn't be crying. I mean, I know it must be pretty upsetting that your mom can't see you, but I'm pretty sure your friend Avril would be sad if she saw you crying, right? So cheer up a bit, OK?" I say as I stand.

"_Ok… I'll try not to cry anymore._" The little girl vanishes from view.

"The hell have you been talking to over here?" Someone asks me from behind.

I turn around to see a young man, probably around the same age as me. "None of your business."

"Hmm…" The dude looks me up and down while making a strange expression. "I don't believe I've seen you here before."

"I just got here."

"Oh… I'm Hiro, what's your name?"

"…Ichigo."

"Ichigo? Isn't that a girl's name-"

"It's not a girl's name!" I snap at him.

"Really?"

"Yes," I say as I walk past him. Talking to this idiot is only a waste of my time.

"H-hey, wait up," He calls out as he falls in step beside me. "Where are you going?"

"Anywhere but here," I reply, annoyance in my voice.

"There's a really cute nurse in the art room right now, we can go there," he suggests.

"No, I want someplace quiet," I say, hoping he'll get the hint and leave me the hell alone.

"Then we should go to the garden."

The eyebrow begins to twitch. "Isn't there someone else you annoy other than me!?" I'm tired of trying to be nice to this guy.

"Do you have an anger problem? You're kind of snappy-"

"I'm not snappy!" He flinches and I try to focus on my breathing. The last thing I need to do is kill the guy. "Listen, I don't exactly _like _people, so I suggest that you trying to be all buddy-buddy with me.

"S-sorry, it's just that I thought you'd want someone to hang out with due to you not knowing anyone here," he says.

"I don't need any friends; they're not good for anything but hurting you! Now get the hell away from me before you make me do something that's going to get me thrown back in isolation!" I yell at him.

"Eep!" He quickly turns around and runs in the opposite direction.

"He's scary," a woman mutters from behind me.

"Yeah. We' better stay away from him," says another.

I whip around to face them and they visibly stiffen before they too run off. Good, I hope they warn others to stay away from me and save me the trouble of having to intimidate everyone on my own.

* * *

"Here you go," the nurse says as she hands me the bag of pajamas.

"Thanks, but where'd you get these?" I ask her.

"From the store."

"Wait, you bought these with you own money?" I ask, feeling a little guilty.

"Yea, I found 10,000 yen in a little box under my bed a couple days ago and I figured spending it on the patients would be the best thing I could possibly do with it." Is this woman a frigging saint or something!? "Well, I have other patients to tend to. I'll see you later, Ichigo."

I stare at the door a couple of minutes after she leaves and I realize that I don't know her name. Oh well, I guess I'll have to ask her later.

_I bet she's just pretending to be nice._

Shut up.

_She's just waiting for you to warm up to her and then, when you least expect it, she's gonna poison you._

Why the fuck would she do that!?

_Because she's evil._

"And how the hell would _you _know that!?" I yell out loud before slapping a hand over my mouth. "Damn…"

_Knock-Knock._

"Is everything alright in here?" A blond nurse asks me as she steps in the room and looks around. "Who were you yelling at?"

"None of your fucking business," I hiss at her. She stares at me for a moment before quickly backing out and closing the door.

"Damn voices, look what you caused," I mutter as I flop onto my new bed. I sigh as I stare at the ceiling. It's a different building, but the color scheme is exactly the same; white.

It's strange, I've been given permission to leave my room, but out of everything I could be doing, I choose to stare at my ceiling. I guess this just proves how hard it is to break old habits. I start to hum a song my dad had taught me as I child and I try to remember the name of it but fail.

"_That sounds really pretty._"

I look up to see the ghost girl from before standing in the middle of my room. "Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" I sit up. "I'm sorry but I don't know your name."

"_I'm Sakura. What's your name?_"

"Ichigo." I take in her appearance. She looks like she's around seven and it seems like most of the blood on her has originated from a wound her head. "What happened to you?"

"_Mommy and I were visiting a friend of hers and I tripped and fell down the stairs. I busted my head open and bleed to death_," she explains. I nod in understanding. It's very rare that I meet a ghost who didn't die in kind of freak accident_._

I lean forward, resting my arms on my legs. "So, Sakura, do you know someplace I can have some fun?"

"_You could paint in the art room_," she suggests.

"Sounds good enough for me. Could you please show me the way?"

"_Uh-Huh!_" She runs through my door and I calmly follow after her. She so happy right now, I'm finding it hard to believe this is the same little girl who was bawling her eyes out a little less than an hour ago.

We turn into a huge room with double doors and my eyes widen. The room is pure chaos. There's paper and paint everywhere and a janitor is having a hell of a time cleaning it up. "Damn," I mutter, laughing in slight amusement as he lets out a string of creative curses as he tries to scrub a hot pink blob off the wall.

"Looks like Yuffie was here. Well, no use trying to come in 'til the old fart cleans it all up," A guy says as walks up beside me, almost running over Sakura. "I'm Kaito, nice to meet you." He holds out his right hand for me to shake but I just glare at him. "I'm here for split personality, so you might want to be polite and introduce yourself before my evil half comes out."

My glare turns into a wide-eyed stare. I'm not exactly sure that I want to associate myself with someone who has a demonic side ready to jump out and attack at any given moment. "Uh, no…"

"Come on! That's not fair! I told you about me so you _have_ to me about you!" He whines, flailing his arms around like a two year old who just got told they couldn't have a cookie.

I groan. "Fine! I'm Ichigo."

"And…?"

I groan a second time. "And I have paranoid schizophrenia and explosive intermittent disorder." I cross my arms, heavily annoyed by the fact that this idiot made me explain my mental problems to him.

"Oh, I get it, you're one of those people who hear voices and are afraid of random objects." He looks at my pajama bottoms. "Like jeans for example."

"I'M NOT AFRAID OF JEANS!" I yell at him.

He jumps a bit from my outburst. "It was a joke, man."

"…" I blush.

"Wait, don't tell you really are-"

"I'm not, so drop it," I tell him, embarrassed by the fact that he now knows of my unnatural fear.

I see Sakura staring at me. "_Why are you afraid of jeans?_"

"I'd rather not talk about it, OK?" I tell her, my blush deepening. "Why don't you go play with your friend Avril or something?"

"_O-OK…_" She fades from my sight.

"Who?" Kaito asks me.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Were you talking to a voice, then?" He asks me, a little too cherry for my liking.

"No, I was talking to a ghost," I snap at him.

"A ghost? Nice excuse…"

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't pound the shit outta you," I hiss.

"Because, um, my evil side might come out?" A bead of sweat rolls down the side of his face.

"Not intimidated in the slightest. In fact, I'm actually a little curious over whether or not your dark side can actually take me in a fight," I tell him, an evil grin making its way across my face.

"I-I-I-I…" He runs away. So much for his dark side. I grin at his retreating form.

I make my way across the room towards what appears to be to only table left untouched by the so called 'Yuffie.' I grab a pencil off the floor along with a blank sheet of paper from a nearby shelf and I start to doodle.

"You're quite the artist," Alex says in a sing song voice, startling me.

"Mmmm…"

She sits beside me and pouts. "I complement you and all I get is a 'Mmmm?'"

"S-sorry…" I tell her.

"Ah! I wasn't being serious, so there's need to feel apologetic about it!" She yells as she frantically waves her arms in front of herself. I laugh lightly at this before pushing the paper towards her and setting the pencil down beside it. "Hmm?"

"I'm already bored of drawing," I tell her.

"Short attention span much?" She asks me while laughing nervously. She picks the pencil up and draws a bunch of stick animals in the lower right corner.

"That, um…" I pause for a moment, trying to burst out laughing. "Looks pretty."

"Save the false complements for someone else. I know I suck at drawing so you don't have to force yourself to be polite. In fact, I won't even remember this in a little while, so you can be a complete and total ass if you want," she tells me, grinning.

I sweat-drop. "Why do you feel the need to suggest such a horrible thing?"

"I'm glad to see the two of you are getting along," a woman says, scaring the shit out of me. I jump out of my chair and run around the table. She sighs at this.

"Oh, Fumiyama-san, what's up?" Alex nonchalantly asks her.

"Nothing much, just checking up on Ichigo. I've heard from his previous doctor that he doesn't exactly play well with others." She glares at me and I give her a half lidded stare. "In fact, Ichigo, I've caught wind that you've already started shit with multiple patients in the little while you've been here."

I walk closer to her and confirm what I'd been thinking this entire time, her expression is nothing more than a mask she puts on to make herself seem tougher than she really is. I wonder how many games I'll have to play to get her to show her true self…

"What's with that look? I don't like it," she says, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about how much I'm looking forward to talking with you," I say, a devious smile spreading across my face.

"You'd better not be planning one of those games I've heard so much about, because if you are, I'll have you thrown straight into isolation. In fact, I was told to place you there to begin with, but I figured I would give you a chance to interact with others if you can behave," she tells me as she pushes her glasses up her nose.

"Trusting me around others isn't exactly the best idea in the world," I tell her. Don't get me wrong, I like being able to roam around, but I wouldn't a single yen that I'll be able to control myself if some idiot pisses me off.

"I hope that's not the case, so do me a favor and act like a civilized human, not like Godzilla rampaging through Tokyo." She turns and walks away; her three inch heels clicking on the paint splattered tiles.

"Well that was an epic failure," I mutter as I sit back down.

"What do you mean by that?" Alex asks me, confused.

"In the past, I've been able to piss my doctors off in a matter of minutes, but this one…" I chuckle. "This one is going to be harder than I thought."

"You enjoy tormenting doctors, don't you?" She asks me.

"I enjoy tormenting nurses and guards, too," I say, smirking.

"No offense, Ichigo, but you're one creepy dude," she tells me.

I turn to face her. "You know, I think I'd like you better if you were a little bit more paranoid of me."

"Huh? Why?"

"Well… I can get pretty violent, even with the people I thought I'd never try to hurt. Back in Karakura, I kicked my first doctor a little too hard when I got pissed at him and he had to be hospitalized for a week. And there was also a guard by the name of Hideki… He was trying to calm me down due to the awful tantrum I was throwing and I permanently damaged his left arm." I pause for a moment and take a deep breath. "My point is that he's going to have to suffer for the rest of his life from an injury I inflicted upon him and I don't want to add you to the long list of people I'll never be able to forgive myself for hurting."

I quickly stand and leave without saying anything else to her. I'm hoping that she'll somehow remember the conversation later a keep her distance from me from here on out.

* * *

"I think I heard that wrong, could you please repeat that?" I ask Ginko, a ghost who floated into my room ten minutes ago. I fall onto my back and grin. I like how the world looks upside down.

He sighs, most likely feed up with repeating himself so many times. "_The reason I was here when I was alive was because I tried to rob a fast-food joint with a toilet plunger while wearing nothing but a thong. Those jerks laughed their asses off and refused to give me a single cheeseburger even after I started swinging the plunger at their fat heads! Then, out of nowhere, a bunch of heavy dudes came, shoved me into a straightjacket, and dragged me to this madhouse! I don't get why, though. I'm perfectly sane, I tell you. I'M PERFECTLY SANE!_" he screams, flinging his body around, causing his ten foot chain to wrap around his legs and send him crashing to the floor.

"So I _did_ hear it right the first people call me crazy." I begin to laugh loudly.

_Knock-Knock. Click._

"Ichigo, do you mind telling me who you've been talking to for the past couple of minutes?" Fumiyama asks as she walks into my room.

"Ginko."

"Ginko?"

"_I died way before she started working here, so I highly doubt that she knows who I am_," Ginko say, as he tries to untangle himself from his unnaturally long chain.

"How many years have you been dead again?" I ask him.

"_Thirty._"

"And you _still_ have an ass of links left. I won't be shocked if you somehow manage to outlive me," I say, chuckling.

"Ichigo!" Fumiyama yells, causing me to jump and turn my head towards her. "Who the hell are you talking to?"

"I've already told you that I'm talking to Ginko. But now that I think about it, you probably can't see him because he's a ghost- GAH! Why the hell am I even telling you this!? It's not like you're going to believe me!" I yell in frustration as I hurriedly sit up.

Fumiyama sighs. "Would you please calm down?"

I glare at her. "I hate to break it to you, Miss Fake, but this is as calm as I get," I hiss at her through my teeth.

"Ichigo-" Her beeper goes off and she hurriedly pulls it out of her lab coat. "Sorry, but I've got to go. Behave yourself," she warns before rushing out.

"I hope she falls down the stairs," I mutter under my breath as I cross my arms.

Ginko sticks his head through the wall. "_I don't think that's going to happen, she's taking the elevator._"

"Go bug someone else, you old fart!" I yell at him before throwing my pillow at him.

"_No need to get violent-Ah!_" This time I throw a book at his head. "___OK, I'm going!_" He yells before charging through my wall.

"Good riddance!

_Being cruel isn't going to get you anywhere._

I slam both hands over my ears in a feeble attempt to block the voice out.

_Aw, he's trying to ignore us._

_You must be really stupid if you think that's really going to work._

"Go away," I mumble. All I want is to be left alone. By people, ghosts, and the voices that have tormented me every day since Katamura died. But I know that'll never happen, at least, not until I'm dead and in the ground…

* * *

**ME: Sorry for not updating in so long. Please forgive me! .**

**ICHIGO: You guys can mob her if you want, I won't object.**

**ME: But if you do then you won't be able to-**

**ICHIGO: *Covers my mouth with his hand* SHHH! You'll spoil the next chapter, you idiot!**

**ME: *Licks Ichi's hand***

**ICHIGO: Ew! Gross! **

**ME: Don't put you DARE put your hands over my mouth, I know EXACTLY where you've been!**

**ICHIGO: -_-**

**TOGETHER: Review!**


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